


I Need to Get My Story Straight

by HolleringHawk65



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Daredevil (Comics), Green Arrow - All Media Types, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, i think, references of sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4234614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolleringHawk65/pseuds/HolleringHawk65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you Batman?"<br/>He'd meant it as a joke. he didn't know that those words would come back to haunt him.<br/>Loosely influenced by "We Are Young" by Fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State

“Are you Batman?” Oliver asked Bruce.

“Excuse me?” He maintained a perfectly calm presence as he replied. The only change on his face was a raised eyebrow.

“You know, cuz you’re from Gotham. Nobody knows who Batman is, so you might as well just ask everyone.”

Bruce smirked. “It’s true that we’ve never been in the same room, but I’m not Batman. Why on Earth would I swing around Gotham in a cape and tights?”

Oliver mentally cursed himself for asking. It probably made him look so stupid and childish in front of one of the most powerful men on the East Coast. He shifted a little bit, took as deep of a breath as he could without making it noticeable, and pretended to take a sip from his drink.

The two men were in the back of some club or another, apparently after they had been abandoned by both of their gold digger dates for the event they had both attended. Normally, Oliver wouldn’t care. His life didn’t have a lot of room for any kind of date…

...But _Bruce Wayne._

Oliver had known him before the island, not very well, but enough to see that something had happened to the man since they’d last seen each other. It was stupid to think that they could relate to each other in any way, but he wanted to.

Also wouldn’t mind having the CEO run his hands through his hair and kiss him until he couldn’t breath _but_ Oliver figured one thing at a time.

They didn’t say anything for a few more minutes. Really, they didn’t say anything until Bruce got up, suit jacket in hand. Oliver felt his heart sink as he realized that he was probably leaving and that it would be another few months at least before their paths crossed again. They always had a way of doing that--avoiding each other.

“Would you like to go to my penthouse with me?”

It took a second for the question to settle into the younger man’s mind. _Penthouse. Bruce Wayne. With him? Alone? Probably alone. With Bruce._

It sounded like a dream come true.

“Sure.”

* * *

He assumed that he’d be lucky if they had a few drinks before Oliver left for his hotel.

This was decidedly not the case.

Oliver hadn’t even known that Bruce was bisexual. But, with his lips against his own, and the older man’s hands sliding down to his slacks, he figured that he pretty much had to be, even a closeted one. He let out a moan as Bruce’s fingers slid through his hair, bucking ever so slightly.

Bruce sucked his way down Oliver’s chest, doing it as though he couldn’t get enough of him. To be honest, if it happened right then, he would be alright with finding out that Wayne was a succubus if it meant that this feeling never ended or to have it be the last thing he felt.

For his life, Oliver couldn’t remember a time when he had been so relaxed in bed before. Maybe it was because Bruce commanded this aura of being in total control and able to handle it.

It was going to ruin him for everyone else. No one would be able to compare to this, this one night stand done as an afterthought, this random _why not_?

* * *

Bruce was more than surprised to find that Oliver was still in bed with him. The blond was leaning into him, practically cuddling considering that his own arm was around him. He smiled at the sleeping blond before he leaned to kiss his forehead.

He reminded himself that _this_ was a one night stand. He didn’t need to do any cute little thing. He shouldn’t.

He untangled them before getting up, both actions as slowly as possible. Maybe Oliver would wake up before he got out of the shower and just leave.

Probably not.

Did he really want him to?

Not really.

He stood over the bed, thinking about the best way to wake up him up. He almost did it. Almost kept Oliver in his bed.

Throughout his whole shower he thought about how he wanted to keep Oliver in that bed _all day_. Just ignore his responsibilities. That’s how Oliver made him feel and he couldn’t understand it.

He walked out with just a towel wrapped around his waist. Oliver looked like he had just woken up, supporting his head with his hand while checking his phone. He looked up at Bruce, green eyes instantly brightening and a smile appearing on his face.

He seemed to remember his place and sat up, sobering, the sheets pooling around his waist. “Sorry, I should get going.”

“Right,” he said, not moving to help because Oliver was a Venus Flytrap and if he touched him he would be with him for hours.

The thought made something in his stomach roll around.

Oliver stood up, exposing his entire back to Bruce. He’d seen parts of it the night before but it was a whole different experience to see the mess of scars in daylight. He _wanted_ to kiss every single one and anything else that might soothe the pain caused by them.

**  
**Before Bruce could distract himself further, he grabbed his clothes and went back into the bathroom. The next time he came out, Oliver was gone.


	2. My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses asking 'bout a scar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Bruce figure out each other's superhero identities. Bruce's reaction is in typical Bruce fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so long! I started it and then stopped for some reason (typical of me lol). I hope that you enjoy it!

Oliver realized it first. Not that he knew he’d done it first yet, but that was beside the point.

It was Batman’s command of the situation that gave Bruce away, only a few weeks later. Even with all of his body armor, he could recognize Bruce’s stature. As he realized it, his focus shattered and he found it hard to breath. He would’ve gotten killed if Superman hadn’t grabbed him before the roof he was standing on collapsed.

Later Bruce--Batman, this was Batman, and there was a clear division of the two people--berated him for the end of the mission. “I don’t need any careless archer on my team,” he snarled at the end. “If you aren’t careful, I will kick you off of this team.”

Oliver hadn’t been on the team for very long and Batman himself had asked him to come on. He stood there, frozen, not saying anything because he had no idea how to approach the older man. Did he just come out and say he knew who he was?

“Understood,” he ended up responding.

Batman sighed and seemed to relax. “You… You did pretty good besides that.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. “Uh, you too, obviously.” After a second, he walked by Bruce, effectively cutting off the conversation.

* * *

It took Bruce a few more weeks to figure it out.

He and Oliver had spent the night together again. The younger man was already asleep, lying on his stomach. The blankets were only around his waist, exposing his back to the man. He memorized the scars tonight, lightly tracing them with the pads of his fingers.

The scars were still fresh in his mind when he ran into Green Arrow coming out of the shower. He had the towel around his waist and his cap and mask back on, but his back was open. Bruce stopped, his voice catching in his throat.

Oliver stood there for a moment before he blurted out, “I know it’s you, Bruce. I’m not an idiot.”

He reached up and pushed the cowl back before running his fingers through Bruce’s flattened hair. Bruce swallowed a lump in his throat before he pushed the blond away.

“I don’t do teammates,” he explained, keeping up the Batman voice.

“Oh.” Oliver was pretty sure that he just felt his heart break into a few million different pieces but he wasn’t sure. “Yeah, that makes sense. I’m surprised that I got a second night anyway.” He hoped that his voice wasn’t cracking too bad as he gathered his clothes. “Have a great night, Bruce.” He noticed his mistake as soon as the name rolled off of his tongue. “Batman.”

The older man didn’t say anything as the archer passed by him and went out into the hall.

He rubbed at his shoulder, tried to ignore the sudden heaviness in his chest. He didn’t enjoy seeing Oliver upset, but he couldn’t just go around and start breaking his rules, because breaking one would lead to breaking the others. He wanted to hold _that_ off for as long as possible.

* * *

“What do you mean by ‘he quit’?” Bruce growled. “You just let him _quit_?”

Wally shrugged. “I don’t think that there’s anything that we could have really done about it. He said that he felt like he was losing focus of what he really cared about.”

“And he didn’t tell you what that was.”

“No. Maybe J’onn could tell you more about what he was feeling? I don’t know. Look, I have to get back to Central City--it’s one of the kids’ birthdays at the orphanage.”

“Right. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Tell Dick I said hi!” he said before he started towards the hanger.

Bruce sat down and sighed. Of course Oliver would quit the League after finding out that he didn’t want to have a relationship with him. Of course he would-

Bruce got up. He couldn't just let Oliver end it like  _this_ \--the League... needed him.

* * *

To be quite honest, Oliver felt like shit.

He was sitting at a bar, practically doubled over from a pain in his stomach from a fight with the League. He rubbed at it a little bit, but that didn’t help much, if at all.

“You alright?”

He looked up, a little part of him hoping it was Bruce, but of course he was disappointed. He hadn’t quite the League because he wanted to date Bruce--he figured that he wouldn’t want to, teammates or not--it was just… _draining_. He didn’t know how Bruce did it all and maintained his sanity, but that’s not how it was for Oliver. Nope, he was just going to stick to Earth, thank you very much.

He returned his attention to the man standing in front of him. Short red hair, a dash of freckles, and sunglasses. He didn’t question them--everyone had their own reason for doing things.

“I’m fine, thanks. Just, you know, normal bar stuff.” He didn’t feel like putting on a playboy persona tonight.

“Would you mind if I sat here?” he asked. “I’m Matt.”

“Go ahead. I’m Oliver.”

He smiled, just a small thing, kind of like Bruce’s-

“Can I buy you a ginger ale? For your stomach?”

“Oh, no, I have a bruise.”

“Ah. In that case, what are you drinking?”

“A Manhattan.” People didn’t usually buy Oliver drinks--he bought other people drinks because he was the rich one. It was nice to be, for once, treated normal.

Matt chuckled after he ordered two of them. “Ironically, I’m from Manhattan.”

“Really? What are you doing all the way out here in California?”

“I moved after… I had some disputes with people, it’s not really important. What brings you to the bar tonight?”

“I… don’t really know. A lot of stuff has been going on.”

“I’m all ears.”

Oliver took a deep breath. “So there’s this guy. I’ve had a crush on him for forever and we finally hooked up a while back and--are you okay with me-”

“Of course, keep going.”

“Thanks. So, the sex was great. I was pretty sure that I was going to be a one night stand but then it we hooked up again a few nights ago. All would’ve been swell if it hadn’t turned out that we worked together. He told me that he didn’t want a relationship because we worked together, which I had assumed from the get go, but everything felt awkward and I wasn’t super happy there any way, so I quit.”

Matt nodded when he was done. “I’m sorry.”

Oliver shrugged. “It’s not a big deal; I’ve got another job lined up and, like I said, I wasn’t expecting a relationship to come out of it.”

Before Matt could say anything, a hand landed on Oliver’s shoulder. He jumped, mentally badgering himself for lowering his guard down so much and-

“Fancy seeing you here, Ollie.”

He shuddered and tried to avoid looking at the new arrival. “Bruce. Matt, this is Bruce… the guy I was just telling you about.”

Matt’s eyebrows raised. “I see. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bruce.”

“Like wise.”

Silence hung in the air. Oliver felt mortified--what the _fuck_ was Bruce doing there? Did he think that he could just swoop in and make everything better with some drinks and-

“Oliver.” Batman’s voice--because yes, Bruce was pulling that _now_ all of time--cut through his thoughts. “I’m sorry.”

Oliver hummed before he leaned forward and kissed Matt. To be honest, he was surprised that Matt reacted, but he did and they kind of... _melted_ together. The redhead’s fingers tangled into his hair and when Oliver pulled away it took him a couple of seconds to get his breathing back to normal.

“That’s nice,” he said to Bruce.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say that I know how Matt Murdock ended up in my fic... but there's not really any good explanation other than the lyrics of "We Are Young."


	3. I'm trying hard to take it back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce actually apologizes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot shorter than the previous chapter but I felt like it didn't have to be super long, ya know?

Oliver stared at the ceiling of Matt’s living room.

The lawyer had let him stay the night after driving him home--apparently, he was blind, go figure. It made sense that he didn’t know that he was rich then and Oliver still hadn’t told him. It was nice to keep pretending that he was relatively normal.

The two had left the bar pretty quickly after they’d kissed. Bruce had--to be honest, Oliver didn’t know where Bruce had gone. He was there one minute and gone the next, and that was probably for the best.

He heard shuffling and glanced over towards Matt’s bedroom door to see that the redhead was in a pair of  flannel pants with-

“Are those little Spider-Man heads?” he asked before he realized that Matt probably didn’t even know.

He patted the pants, smiling. “Probably.”

Oliver laughed. “In terms of New York heroes, I have to admit that I’m more of a Superman kind of guy.”

Matt chuckled. “Really? I pictured Oliver Queen more of an Iron Man guy.”

His cheeks flushed. So he did know who he was--or at least now he did. “I’m more about the little guy, actually.”

“I get that. Do you want to have breakfast or do you have somewhere to be?”

“I’m more than happy to hang around with you, if you don’t have any place to be.”

He smiled. “I’m available.”

* * *

Bruce was tempted to call Oliver and see if he was alright after last night. He’d been half tempted to carry Ollie home last night but when he was there, the other man had been in control of himself and didn’t seem to be in any danger of being taken advantage of.

His knee jerk reaction was to find out everything about the man that had been with Oliver but he had taken a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. There was no reason for him to become possessive and obsessive over Oliver.

He was just going to do one last thing. It probably looked a more than a little desperate but... Ollie deserved it.

* * *

When Oliver got up the next day, feeling well rested for the first time in weeks, he did not expect anything to be waiting outside of his door. It was a bouquet of white tulips--somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered that they were supposed to mean forgiveness.

He found a card within the bouquet. His stomach was twisting in knots as he opened it, expecting some poem or something because Bruce could be extravagant when he wanted to be, but all it said was “Let me take it back.”

Is that what he wanted? Did he really want Bruce?

He’d spent the whole day with Matt yesterday. He was a friendly enough guy, clearly had some hidden issues, but that wasn’t  new considering the circles he traveled in. He thought that if he tried, he and Matt could become good friends, but he didn’t feel anything for him like he did for Bruce.

He took out his phone and called Bruce.

* * *

“I’m not going to stop trying to make it up to you,” the older man admitted. “I’ve hurt you.”

Oliver shrugged. He’s been through crazier things, to be honest, and he knew that Bruce had too. Still, it was nice for Bruce to make them dinner--it’d been Swedish meatballs which Bruce had admitted were pretty hard to mess up--and then _this_ …

They were on Oliver’s bed, with Bruce’s arm wrapped around him, his head against the older’s chest. In that moment, he felt utterly safe, like nothing could touch them in here.

The blond wrapped his fingers around Bruce's before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Good."

 


	4. Maybe we could find new ways to fall apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes they fall apart from fighting. Other times, it's a different kind of falling apart. Oliver thinks that this might be alright, as long as Bruce will be there to put him back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's a bed scene in this, but I figured that it wasn't too bad so I did not up the rating but if you think I should, let me know!  
> Feel free to let me now what you think about this chapter in a comment :)

Bruce dealt with his anger by going out on the streets of Gotham and kicking the ass of anyone who deserved it.

Oliver dealt with his anger by drinking and working out til his muscles burned and he could barely breath.

Bruce didn’t trust himself to get drunk around anyone, so, appropriately, he didn’t drink a lot at any point in time.

Oliver, on the other hand, only let himself be incapacitated in such a way around Bruce. He knew that the older man would stop him from doing anything too stupid.

It helped that they were in Bruce’s bedroom, in his big fancy Manor. There wasn’t a lot of stupid things that a person could do in this room, aside from knocking over an expensive knick knack or accidentally spilling alcohol.

Bruce could always tell when Oliver was happily drinking or doing it out of anger. Tonight, he was happy, celebrating a successful mission with good beer and popcorn mixes.

He was now sitting in Bruce’s lap and putting his hands on his shoulders. He leaned in and started mouthing against the older man’s neck before he trailed downwards, leaving hickeys where he knew Bruce could cover them up. They weren’t public with their relationship yet, if they were ever going to be, and he didn’t want him to have to deal with anyone asking questions.

Bruce ran his fingers through Oliver’s hair and down his back, earning a groan from the blond. He settled back, kneeling in between the older man’s legs. He went to pull off Bruce’s clothes, but he stopped him. He pushed Oliver onto his back, leaning over him to kiss him.

He was the one to slowly take off Oliver’s clothing, kissing and sucking anywhere and everywhere that was easy to cover up. The blond was little more than glue by the time Bruce took off his own clothes. They kissed again, the younger still on the bottom.

_This_ was different than every time they had done it before. All of those times, it hadn’t been the necessarily brutal pace that most people considered fucking--it had just been sex. Sex that caused Oliver to come undone and left aftershocks in Bruce that made his toes curl, but sex all the same. They’d tried to keep it in remote situations earlier on, trying to ignore that they were a thing, but it wasn’t like that now. It’d still been sex, something that could be broken off, but _this_ …

It was slower, deeper, like Bruce was searching for something. Oliver clung to him throughout it all because he felt vulnerable like this, and not because of the buzz that was coursing through him. It felt like Bruce was taking him apart, bit by bit.

He wondered if this is what love was really supposed to be like this.

If it was, he figured that he was okay with that.

* * *

 

 

Hours later, after the aftershocks had died down, leaving Oliver laying on his stomach, staring at Bruce, he admitted something that was dangerous for them. “I trust you.”

Bruce’s small smile appeared as he looked over at him. “I know.” One of his hands reached down and squeezed one of Oliver’s. The action said everything that Oliver needed to know; _I trust you too._

The feeling of vulnerability didn’t leave him for the rest of the night.

 

* * *

 

“Breakfast in bed?” Oliver almost laughed from the… domesticity of  Bruce coming into the bedroom with two servings of breakfast.

“I figured that…” he drifted off before shrugging. “Do you not want to?”

“I never said that,” he pointed out before smiling. “Get your ass over here. I’m actually kind of starving.”

“Consider the only thing that’s been for the past eighteen hours is beer and popcorn, I’m not surprised.”

“Popcorn _mixes_ ,” he corrected. “There’s other stuff in there, so it’s slightly more nutritional.”

Bruce hummed as he sat down.

“I’m serious! Air-popped popcorn is very nutritional. I don’t even add a lot of butter to it, so that’s a plus.”

“Now you’ll tell me chocolate milk is healthy.”

“Actually-”

“No way.”

“Yes! There was a study that it’s good for drinking after intensive exercises. They used swimming as an example, of course. Can you imagine Arthur drinking chocolate milk?” He laughed. “I can see you with a chocolate shake, or warmed milk with honey to help you sleep, but plain chocolate milk?” He shook his head as he chewed on a piece of omelette. “Just can’t see it.”

“Somedays I can’t picture you as a fellow billionaire playboy.”

“Yeah… Haven’t done that in a while.”

“We should make appearances,” Bruce said. Generally, that would sound like a suggestion from most people, but it was pretty much an order.

Oliver didn’t say anything for a moment. “Matt asked me to go to this charity thing with him.”

“Matt?”

“Matt Murdock--that guy I was with at the bar? We’re friends now, since he doesn’t live too far from me, and…” He shrugged. “He knows that I’m with you, of course, but he also gets the whole situation and-”

“You already said yes.”

“Yeah. I mean, you go out with beautiful models and everything, why can’t I go somewhere with my lawyer friend who knows better than to try to get into my pants?”

“That’s fine,” Bruce reassured him. “It’s fine.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. It was clearly something that was not fine, but right then, he didn’t give a flying damn.

Bruce needed to stop being so… insecure. Oliver was there, with _him_ , not in Matt’s apartment. When they were done and all of the dishes were back on the tray, Oliver reached over and kissed him.

“Bruce,” he took a deep breath. “You know that I…” He felt himself blush. “I love you. A lot. Nothing inappropriate would ever happen between Matt and me.”

The older man ran his fingers through Oliver’s hair. “I know. It just makes me… jealous, even though I love you too.”

He chuckled. It was a new relationship and whenever there was one of those, someone was bound to feel territorial. It was understandable.

“I’m just going to go back to sleep now,” he announced. “Care to join me?”

“Some of us have jobs, you know.”

He scoffed. “I have a job, it just happens to be one that doesn’t need my attention twenty four hours a day seven days a week. I digress. Go, enjoy this beautiful day inside an office. Who am I to stop you?”

Bruce arched an eyebrow. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Do you?”

He hummed as a smile appeared.

“Is it working?”

“Perhaps,” he said before pushing him onto his back again.


	5. I'll carry you home tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just... what I think is a good way to end the fic.

“Oliver!” Bruce yelled over the rain and thunder.

“Bruce, don’t-” Clark tried to warn him, but he didn’t care as he went to look for the blond. He was not losing him _here_ , not like _this_.

Not after a fight, not over stupid Matt Murdock and Zatanna and Diana and… okay, so that all really didn’t matter. Which is why he had to find Oliver.

He’d seen him take a hit. They’d been busy fighting the aliens and Bruce had been on the other side of the field. Clark or Wally hadn’t been able to make it over before the ground collapsed underneath the archer.

He was on his knees, digging through the wet soil. The more he went at it, the more it turned into mud. He was almost positive that he wouldn’t find Oliver alive,that there was no way that a human could withstand that, that he’d been underneath the soil too long, but despite all of that, he kept digging.

The others finished off the aliens as he continued, probably doing more harm than good. He felt Clark trying to pull him away--half heartedly, because he was able to pull away. His shoulders sagged under the weight of everything--the armor, the persona, losing yet another person he loved.

His fists clenched as he fought back tears. Why did he even bother when there was a tropical storm going on around them?

He fell back onto his knees, resumed the digging through the ever blurring ness of his vision.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, his hands grabbed onto something. He pulled it up, expecting the worst, but it was slippery. From the mud, Bruce had assumed, but when he had Oliver laid out in front of him, he saw that it was a mucusy membrane.

He tried pulling it off of him, found that it came off easily enough, and took it off where it covered his nose and mouth. Seconds later, Oliver sat up as he inhaled before coughing.

“What just happened?”

Bruce pulled him to him. “It doesn’t matter, you’re alright.”

He kept repeating it over and over in his head. _Oliver’s alright. He’s not dead. He’s here. He’s here._

He kissed Oliver despite having the other League members around them, and the rest of the membrane, and the rain and the mud.

“You’re okay.” He said it softly, just so Oliver could hear him.

The blond managed to smile. “They’d have to try a lot harder that that if they wanted to get me away from you. I’m like a bur, alright? Not leaving you, not yet.”

Bruce stood up before picking Oliver up. “I know.”

The archer slowly put his arms around him. “Good. Now relax.”

“I’m taking you home,” Batman told him before telling the others.

“Are you going to carry me the whole way?” he asked, voice exceptionally light for almost having died.

“I would if I was Clark, but I’m not. I’m just going to put you in the Batmobile, take you home, put you in the shower and then hold you all night long.”

“Good to know.”

Bruce took a deep breath. “Are you alright?”

He shrugged. “There’s always a chance of death when we go out. I’m not… not really troubled by it. Not more than any other time.”

He sighed as he set him down in the back seat. Constantly being in the face of peril was part of the job but he felt as though he had never been quite as shaken as he just was.

 

* * *

 

“What would I do if I lost you?” Bruce asked Oliver later, as he was sleeping. He kissed the blond’s forehead before he laid down next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

When he was sure Bruce was asleep, Oliver turned over, staring at the face of his lover in such a peaceful state. “Try not to think about that right now,” he whispered. “I think that that’s a very far away time.” He pressed closer into him. “Just… let’s enjoy _this_ right now.”

* * *

 

 

Oliver couldn’t tell you the exact date of when he and Bruce had first spent the night together. That had been somewhere around a year ago, probably more than that. They’d been a couple for nine months or so at this point.

He had fallen asleep on one of the many couches in the Manor. When he woke up, Bruce was standing over him, smiling.

“Can I help you, my prince?” He added a small, lazy smile for effect.

“If I woke you up with a kiss, Sleeping Beauty, would you marry me?”

Oliver sat up. “Are you honestly asking me that?”

Bruce got down on a knee. “Yes.”

He pulled him closer for a kiss. “Of course I’d say yes.”


End file.
